Austin paint park – the Hope Outdoor Gallery

Our son turned us on to this massive, ever-changing paint park at 11th and Baylor near downtown Austin, Texas called the Hope Outdoor Gallery (website). Their website says this started in March 2011. There’s something new to see on every visit, since artists (and kids who want to be artists) are always painting over the old art – just watch where you step or you might get wet paint on the bottom of your shoe like my daughter did. Their Facebook page has a good collection of some of the major works through time.

We visited just before Christmas. There were several painters, lots of paint cans and kids running around writing their names with spray cans. And there were some impressive images. Supposedly you need a permit and need to submit a sketch, but I doubt most of the young kids running loose with spray cans had gone through this process (just a guess).

The castle behind it is called…wait for it…The Castle, owned by Castle Hill Partners because it is on Castle Hill. On the grounds there are several cannons, assumably to ward of any attempt by painters to breach the walls.

The video below shows the size of the gallery, and a few people painting (and filming the artist painting while I’m filing them, how meta!).

A few photos of images below (and yes, that is my lovely wife and daughter in the photos):

The artists climb into every hole, nook and cranny…and even paint on the bordering fences and the bushes.

More from the voices in my head

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